Adjustable dress and shroud



Nov. 30, 1943. s. HAHN 2,335,667

ADJUSTABLE DRESS AND SHROUD I Filed April 13, 1940 INVENTOR n a H I. 55 ATTORNEY Idellw S-Hahn Patented Nov. 30, 1943 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE ADJUSTABLE DRESS AND SHROUD Idella S. Hahn, "Cleveland, Ohio Application April 13, 1940, Serial No. 329,420

1 Claim.

This invention relates to a dress that may be used as attire for an injured or disabled woman who is unable to care for herself, and as a burial shroud.

An object of the present, invention is to provide a dress that serves to substantially completely clothe a woman without the necessity of lifting her body.

Another object is to provide a dress that may be simply and ea ily adjusted to provide a neat appearing fit about the, shoulders, collar and waist without alteration in the cut of the material or in the modish pattern and style of the dress, and that is adapted for interchangeable use with women of a limited range of size and build.

A further object is to provide a hospital dress for substantially inert women wherein the dress may be applied to the patient with a minimum of lifting or disturbing the woman, and that presents an attractively stylish and satisfactory garment.

Another object is to provide a dress that can be used as a burial shroud that is of very simple manufacture and that may be used to clothe a, woman with a, minimum of effort and expense.

Another object is to provide a burial shroud for women wherein the exposed material of the dress may be of expensive cloth and the unexposed material of the dress may be of lower cost, thus concentrating the quality of the dress chiefly in the exposed front part thereof.

With the above and other objects in view, that will be apparent from the following discussion to those who are familiar with the field of womens apparel, illustrative embodiments of the invention are shown in the accompanying drawing, wherein:

Fig. 1 is a fragmentary plan view of the entire dress opened out to display the front, the back, and the sleeves, and ready to be applied to the patient;

Fig. 2 is an enlarged section taken along the line 22 of Fig. 1;

Fig. 3 is a fragmentary plan view of the under side of a dress front, or of a foundation or a slip that may be positioned beneath the front of the dress;

Fig. 4 is a fragmentary plan view of the top part of the front of the dress or slip with a modification in the means for adjusting the back and the collar;

Fig. 5 is a plan view of the back of the dress as separate from the front of the dress; and

Fig. 6 is a fragmentary plan view'of thefront of the dress as it would appear onthe wearer.

The opened out dress that is hown in Fig. 1 consists of a front portion l and a back portion 2 that may be continuous with each other as shown, and continuous with the sleeve portions 4, or the sleeves may be attached to the front and back of the dress as by the seam 3 along the dotted line shown.

The front of the dress is provided with a collar 5 that is preferably of a loose, open design, such as the surplice style shown, so that the collar may be passed conveniently over the head without objectionably disturbing the patient. The front of the dress may be spread over the front of the patient, with the patient resting on one side, and the back of the dress placed in position for securing one pair of adjacent edges of the front and back of the dress, and the adjacent edges of one sleeve, together in any desired manner. Suitable dress edge securing means for attaching the lateral edges of the front and back of the dress and along the underside of the sleeves, are provided, such as the snap fasteners 6 that are shown.

The snap fasteners 6 may be replaced where preferred, by slide fasteners, buttons and button holes, or any other common form of desired edge attaching means. The dress edge securing means are preferably disposed on each lateral side of the dress so that when they are attached on one side of the dress, the patient may be rolled over on the other side, and th means for securing the front and the back of the dress together along the exposed edges are made to engage each other.

Suitable provision is made for drawing the front of the dress into neat appearing order at those zones where a substantially close fit is desired. At the waist, the casing 1 houses a suitable contractile material, such as the elastic 8, that draws the belt 9 on the front of the dress neatly around the patients waist. Across the shoulder of the dress and preferably just back of the collar 5, a suitable fabric drawing means, such as the tape ill that is slidably housed in the casing ll, may be pulley up with respect to the casing, as from the sleeve openings, until the dress, material i gathered attractively across the shoulders, and until the sleeve shoulder seam 3 is properly positioned on the shoulders of the wearer of the dress. The tape ill may be anchored at any desired position, such as substantially back of the collar 5, as by the'anchor thread l2 so that it may not be completely withdrawn from the casing ll.

Ina similar manner, the material of the dress is gathered attractively on either side of the collar 5, as by the tapes I3, that may be housed in the casings M. The tapes l3 are preferably secured at a desired position, such as at one end of the casings [4, by suitable means, such as the anchor threads i5, that are shown as being disposed at substantially the edge of the collar 5.

Provision may, if desired, be made for maintaining the gather in the fabric of the dress that is made by drawing up the tapes l3, as by the use of any desired securing means, such as the application of a few anchoring stitching threads to hold the tapes l3 in desired positions with respect to the casings l4. 7

The tapes I!) and I3 in their secured positions cause the material of the dress, that is adjacent the tape casing to be gathered into adjustable folds, as indicated by the numeral l6, in an attractive manner that in no way detracts but rather enhances the appearance of the dress. This adjustment also serves to assist in disposing the sleeve shoulder seams 3 in their correct positions on the shoulders of the patient. If the dress is made of heavy material and no slip is desired, the casings may be sewn in narrow strips across the shoulder to hold the tapes.

The front of the dress may be of any desired pattern or style. The skirt portion is preferably given ample fullness as by the pleats If, so that the dress may be both comfortable and modish. Any desired adornment, such as the lace l8, may be positioned around the collar of the dress. The skirt length may be adjusted by varying the depth of the skirt hem is to adjust it to the proper length.

The sleeves 4 preferably terminate in a cuff portion 20, that may or may not, as desired, be provided with an elastic band 2|, so that any lace work or other adornment beyond the band 2! may be caused to be maintained in proper relation with the hand of the wearer of the dress.

When completely attired in this dress, and with the securing means on either side of the dress and beneath the sleeves attaching the fabric edges together, a patient, or a deceased person, is as sufficiently gowned and as fully clothed as though she were attired in a street costume.

The slip 22, that is shown in Fig. 3 of the drawis provided for use beneath the front part of the dress that is shown in Fig. l, or it may be considered as illustrating a separate front for a dress. The slip 22 may be attached to the under side of the front of the dress by stitching or the like, along its lateral skirt edges 23, its

sleeve edges 24, and across the shoulder seam 25. Where it is desired that the slip is attached along its edges to the front of the dress, the slip and the dress front may be stitched together to form the casings across the shoulders and on either side of the collar. Hence, when used as a slip, the tapes and their casings may be regarded as being omitted from Fig. 3 of the drawmg.

The hem seal 25 of the slip may be raised or lowered to make the length of the slip conform with the length of the dress front to which it is secured. The collar 21 is of ample size to permit the slip to be passed over the head without discomfort to the patient. The collar 2'! preferably, although not necessarily, folds in the same manner in which the collar 5 of the dress l folds and may be stitched thereto, if preferred.

Viewing the slip 22 as a separate front for a dress, the shoulder tape' 28 is slidably mounted in the casing 29 so that both ends of the tape 23 extend out of the casing 29. The tape may or may not be provided with anchor means, as preferred. The collar tape anchor threads 30 secure one of the ends of the collar tapes 3!. The collar tapes 3| are housed within the collar tape casings 32, that are disposed on either side of the collar 21. The collar tapes 3| may be drawn away from the collar 21 and stitched thru the material 22 to maintain them in a permanent position, so that the material is gathered to a desired degree on either side of the collar 21.

-shoulder tapes 35 are movably disposed within the shoulder tape casings 36, and are anchored by the threads 37 at the sleeve seam 4!. The anchor threads 31 hold the shoulder tapes 35 attached to the dress front 33 and permit the tapes to be drawn at the collar opening.

Collar adjustment is also provided for by the collar tapes 38, one of which is disposed on either side of the collar 34. The collar tapes 38 are housed within suitable casings 3i and are held in place at the end adjacent the sleeve seams 4! by suitable means, such as the anchor threads 40. The collar tapes 38 are accessible at the collar opening and when drawn up to a desired extent, may be secured in their adjusted position in any preferred manner, as by stitching a few anchor threads at the neck line, or the like.

The dress front 33 may, if desired, be attached along the shoulder seam 43, to the back of the dress.

The dress back 44, that is shown in Fig. 5, may be attached along its shoulder .seam 45 to the shoulder seam 43 of the dress front that is shown in Fig. 4, or to the shoulder seam 25 of the dress front that is shown in Fig. 3. The sleeve seams 4B are preferably so designed as to continue with the sleeve seams of the dress or slip to which it is to be attached, so that sleeves may be continuously attached to both the sleeve seams 45 of the back of the dress 4 and the sleeve seams of the front of the dress to which the back 44 is stitched along its shoulder seam. At the waist line, the casing 41 preferably houses a suitable elastic that is adapted for drawing the front of the dress closely about the waist of the wearer.

The front of the dress 48, that is shown in Fig. 6, is also provided with a collar 49 and sleeves 58 that may be continuous with the dress front material, or that may be stitched to the front of the dress 48 along the sleeve seams 5d. Suitable means, such as the collar tapes 52, that are housed within the casings s3 and anchored at the sleeve seams 5G, permit the fabric of the dress to be gathered on either side of the collar to a desired degree and may be invisibly tucked beneath the collar of the dress and anchored in place by a few threads, or in any other desired manner.

For hospital use this dress provides a means for completely clothing a patient with a mini" mum of exertion on the part of the patient. This provision is highly desirable in cases of paralysis and similar ailments, where it is dangerous to move the patient about.

' The dress is admirably adapted for use as a shroud, particularly in the case of women, who in the majority of instances prefer to be fully clothed. This dress permits the body to be gowned without it being necessary to either lift the weight of the dead person or to leave them but partially clad. This dress, when serving as a shroud, also permits an expenditure that is chiefly invested in the front of the dress, since the slip and the back of the dress may, where desired, be made of relatively inexpensive material because of the fact that they are not seen by an observer.

It will be understood that the foregoing disclosures have been submitted for the purposes of illustration and explanation, and that changes in the style of the dress, the manner of securing the edges of the dress and sleeves together, the manner of gathering the fabric across the shoulders and on either side of the collar, and the particular manner in which the front belt is maintained snugly about the waist, may be modified or altered'somewhat without departing from the spirit of the invention, as defined by the following claim.

What I claim is:

A burial shroud, comprising in combination, a

fabric front, a fabric back, a collar defining a neck orifice in said front, a pair of aligned casings permanently secu red to the surface of said front and having one end of each terminating at said collar, a tape in each of said casings and individually having one end anchored at and a free end projecting from said casing at the opposite end thereof whereby the fabric of said shroud front adjacent said collar may be gathered by pulling said tape and holding said casing, another casing substantially parallel to said pair of casings and extending laterally from the back of said collar, a tape slidably mounted in said other casing and anchored back of said collar and having free ends adjacent the free ends of said first mentioned tapes and whereby said free ends of said tapes may be tied together IDELLA S. HAHN. 

